Trustworthy AI Services in the Public Sector: What Are Citizens Saying About It?

[Motivation] Artificial intelligence (AI) creates many opportunities for public institutions, but the unethical use of AI in public services can reduce citizens’ trust. [Question] The aim of this study was to identify what kind of requirements citizens have for trustworthy AI services in the public sector. The study included 21 interviews and a design workshop of four public AI services. [Results] The main finding was that all the participants wanted public AI services to be transparent. This transparency requirement covers a number of questions that trustworthy AI services must answer, such as about their purposes. The participants also asked about the data used in AI services and from what sources the data were collected. They pointed out that AI must provide easy-to-understand explanations. We also distinguished two other important requirements: controlling personal data usage and involving humans in AI services. [Contribution] For practitioners, the paper provides a list of questions that trustworthy public AI services should answer. For the research community, it illuminates the transparency requirement of AI systems from the perspective of citizens.